The contemporary rite of passage that celebrates the growth from being an adult to becoming an elder is Simchat Chochmah - - Joy of Wisdom.

This new self may be celebrated at any senior age, joined by family and friends. It may also be a personal observance of gratitude and anticipation of the future.
As you enter this juncture, we invite you to harvest the wisdom gleaned from your life's experiences and plant its seeds within your Joys of Wisdom Treasury.

The treasury celebrates your vision in three beautifully hand-crafted folios - Hindsight, Insight and Foresight. Each is designed to create new experiences to share with the people you treasure today and will also become a tangible heirloom and cherished legacy for generations to come.

Hindsight

Hindsight

Begin the celebration of by collecting memories of your life's journey.

Insight

Insight

Transmit your ideals and guiding principles to the next generation through an Ethical Will, that is a most cherished legacy.

Foresight

Foresight

The benediction, which parents traditionally give to their children, blesses their future as they start their life's journey.

"Life is a journey: From childhood to maturity. And youth to age; From innocence to awareness. And ignorance to knowing; From foolishness to discretion. And then perhaps to wisdom"
~Rabbi Evan Moffic

The Details

This passing on of the history, the knowledge, and the blessing gleaned from your life's journey is the intention of 'The Joys of Wisdom'. The three volumes represent a unique way to treasure and value your life and to gift it to those to come. And because it uses the oldest form of written communication, the book, it can never become obsolete, letting the value accrue to generations yet unborn.

VOLUME I - Relive Your Journey

The first way of collecting memories is through photographs that enable one to relive the unique experiences that have shaped us and have made us who we are today. They reminds us of people and places that nurtured us, as well as unique era in which we have lived.

The Hindsight Folio

is comprised of two inserts. The first insert is a collage of eighteen self-curated photographs that become a pictorial memoire. The second insert contains eighteen quotations that become a verbal self portrait. Together the two inserts create your unique autobiography.

VOLUME II - Share Your Wisdom

The second volume provides a beautiful means of bestowing your love and values to those you care about, through the creation of an Ethical Will.It has been said that Ethical Wills are "windows into the souls of those who write them."

The Insight Folio

In addition to your love and values, an Ethical Will may include family history and rituals as well as cultural heritage. This endows a sense of identity, birthright and belonging to those who will travel life's path after us. An Ethical Will is an enduring inheritance.

VOLUME III - Bless the Future

םינהכ תכרב

The folio frames the blessing known as the Birkat Kohanim, which is beautifully illuminated and hand-calligraphed in both Hebrew and English.

The Foresight Folio

This third volume contains the benediction which parents traditionally give to their children. It is the oldest known Biblical text and has blessed generations for more than three thousand years.

Getting Started

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
~Norman Maclean

So in case you were wondering what this is all about ...

The Joys of Wisdom is a process (but you already knew that), and we will guide you through the process, step by step.

We will work with you to curate your photos, to elicit the quotations that accompany the photos, to write and edit your Ethical Will, and to create the benediction that you pass on. Once the elements are all created, we will print and bind your folios, and create a custom, engraved slipcase for the set.